Playback Clothing Helps Recycled Soda Bottles Dye Another Day

We know what you’re thinking: Not another organic (or, in this case, recycled) T-shirt. But although togs made from recycled cotton or soda bottles are fast becoming old hat—and that’s a good thing—Playback Clothing manages to up the ante with tees, hoodies, and sweatshirts that take on the preexisting color of the original recycled material. To wit: No potentially hinky chemical dyes are required, which produces shirts in hues like Beer Bottle Brown, Soda Bottle Green, and Water Cooler Blue, in addition to colors gleaned from salvaged cotton scraps.

It’s for this reason that Playback’s fabrics embrace fuller-bodied heathers and melanges instead of traditional solids. (A more complex, multidimensional color is the result.) Although the Brooklyn-based company is still in its salad days, bold-face names like Dave Matthews Band and Phish have signed up to use Playback’s blanks for their concert merch.

Playback’s clothes take on the preexisting color of the original recycled material, which means no dyes are necessary.

And if bottles of Mountain Dew aren’t esoteric enough for you, stay tuned: The label is launching a line of shirts made from recycled X-rays. Not another recycled T-shirt? You betcha.